2022.07.04
By John Gulka
A MUST-SEE series on PBS thanks to Ken Burns and a Call to Action
“Hiding in Plain Sight, Youth Mental Illness” https://watch.weta.org/show/hiding-plain-sight-youth-mental-illness/ is a two-part series broadcast and now available through streaming. At last, PBS is presenting something that at least presents a small part of the very big national crisis we have with severe mental illness in America.
We have the medical knowledge and resources, certainly the money, but we lack in both the social and political will to touch this subject, much less address this in the way that it requires. This is not the way we ‘feel comfortable’ with it. This is NOT a comfortable issue.
There is no quick fix, silver bullet, or magic wand. The President cannot issue an executive order to ‘solve it’. No, that won’t work.
The mandatory out-patient treatments we have in place today aren’t working either. But it is not reported as such. Sorry. There are more fails there than successes. The reason is, people who are mandated to attend weekly/monthly check-ins just don’t show up and nothing happens. Their psychosis resumes, and the movie begins again.
We need an honest national conversation on this subject. And face the reality of it. Not what we would like it to be. We need to realize this is worse than diabetes and even perhaps cancer in the sense of the depth and breadth of the series of these brain disorders across all age groups, especially now reaching the very young; across all races, ethnicity, all socioeconomic groups. None are spared. Although just about everyone across these categories ignore the early signs in their families.
There is no user manual for families that says, “Chapter 28: Mental Illness in your family, what to look for”. Nope, it’s not there. Much less is available on how to deal with it. BUT there are nationwide resources available to everyone to get educated and aware. First, with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, NAMI.ORG are two invaluable tools;
A. their free Family to Family training course. It is now available on ZOOM sessions varying from 8 to 12-week courses with 2 sessions per week.
B. their Family Support Groups, also now on ZOOM, held locally and vary in frequency from once to twice per month. Check out your local community and sign up to attend. They are confidential and you will learn you are part of a very large community.
Plus their local Peer to Peer Groups called Connections. Like the Family Support Groups, these are local and Zoom based. It is for all individuals suffering with any of the brain disorders, from Anxiety to Schizophrenia.
Second, there is the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, DBSALLIANCE.ORG. They offer a rich collection of training for both families & friends and their mentally ill loved ones, not just suffering from Depression and Bipolar Disorder, but also Schizophrenia, paranoia, anxiety and the related brain disorders.
They are recognized as the NO #1 Resource for Peer-to-Peer Support for Depression Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, and Schizophrenia . They too are offered locally but are offered at a minimum weekly with more than one Peer to Peer group in each community, plus at least 1 family support group.
Local Resources: my wife and I have been certified trained family support facilitators for the Alexandria, VA NAMI family support group since 2003, and at the request of the DBSA of Virginia, took over their family support functions in July of 2021. We now offer our combined Alexandria NAMI/Virginia DBSA Family & Friends Family Support Groups sessions EVERY Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm on Zoom for free. Find us at DBSAVA.org and NAMI-northernvirginia.org or email us at [email protected].
Get informed, get educated, and get involved to help shape a wise series of steps in your community and at your state level to make effective and lasting mental health services that every American should have access to and deserves to receive regardless of their standing/race/ethnicity or age.
We are losing not thousands of people, but a clear threat to lose generations of our Americans. We need to wake up, drop the stigma and work together.
If you have a family member suffering from a severe mental disorder as these we’ve touched on, check out our mental health consulting services at pathfinderjohn.com
to see if we may be of assistance to you.
